Larksong Grotto Plastic bag, middle class, polyethylene

Maybe @Vuk? Or @Terich-mir? Or both! I have to be bit vague because of Reek's thread with the bear, but I wanted to get a new thread up.

What Reek had believed would be an emotional catharsis turned out to be a curse. After visiting what he believed to be the grave of his ex-mate and first litter, the maplewood, the emotional burden of guilt hung heavy on Reek's back -- renewed in full. He washed his paws in the blood of his former claim and the family that he had left behind. The fault, in his mind, lay completely with himself. With the first deal he had made with Sleeping Dragon, he had drug his old wolves into an inevitable conflict. Though he had been cut off from the wolves of the maplewood, it was still his responsiblilty to protect them from afar... in that, he had failed.

In the end, Reek was powerless. The coalition between the grotto and the dragon wolves crumbled and factors beyond Reek's control escalated until the maplewood's destruction was inevitable. There had been too many variables tossed into the equation to the point where Reek no longer felt in control -- where arguably, he had never been in the first place.

He had made it this far by trying not to thing about it, but try as he might, Reek returned to the grotto with a heavy heart and a broken spirit. His eyes trailed the ground as he walked: his head, full of thoughts about the children he had condemned to death -- his own. Once over the border, Reek directed his course straight to his cave.

Usually, he greeted his tenants with a gift of some sort. Something for Seff to play with when he got older or a scrap of food he could scrounge up, but this time, Reek returned empty handed. He entered the cave unannounced and settled against a wall with his head rested gently on his tucked forepaws.

seff was growing quickly, thriving in spite of the famine that raged. reek and terich watched over their little family with doting affection -- vuk knew nothing about the larksong alpha, save for his kind heart. however, there was an agony in reek, a festering wound no herb would mend. she saw it in his coming and goings, in the way he comported himself day to day -- when he slept, when he entered the cave and fell into a welter of darkness, as he did now.

she was becoming fond of him; his friendship was treasured, and he had been there for her in a terrible moment. likewise, vuk felt the beginnings of a spare affection beginning for terich, though she was unsure of what it would mean.

seff was asleep; the patterned girl's gaze was soft and worried upon reek's turned back, and presently she rose with great care and moved quietly across the grotto, where she curled against the larksong leader's haunch and lay her muzzle across his hip. vuk said nothing, but merely lent her strength to him as he had done for her.

He shifted and buried his head beneath his paws in place of a blanket. The darkness of the cave enveloped him— and the silence, it was still. Despite taking refuge in the quiet cave, in Reek's head it was anything but calm. His thoughts were turbulent and loud like a stormy sea, and he was rolling over with violent intensity like a castaway caught in a summer squall. His stomach, it knotted up and lurched as if his gut were full of static and mothballs. He wanted to move -- yet at the same time it felt pointless, as if he had no energy for even the most simple of tasks.

And so, he would remain still until his sudden spell of grief passed. He had not looked to see if either Vuk or Terich occupied the cave with him (he simply assumed Vuk was present on account of Seff), but his assumption was answered when he felt a soft touch on his hip. It first startled him, his body tensed, but after turning his head around to see Vuk's face looking back at him he let himself relax. "Vuk," he whispered -- expression wrought with both gratitude and sorrow. He would break, but would not break alone.

"It's my fault," he mumbled, laying his head back down on his forepaws. "All of it." Of course, she didn't know the context. She didn't know Reek's misunderstanding over the fate of his children. All she could see was a broken, lonely man in need of companionship.

she felt tension rise in his muscles at her touch, but vuk did not pull away, and when reek met her eyes, his body drained itself of the momentary stiffness. he spoke her name in a raw voice, one that pulled the girl's ears back along her skull -- the agony in his tones was raw, tangible, frightening. 

he blamed himself for something she did not understand, but the patchwork wolfess was competent enough to know that this was to do with the pain he wore so openly upon his features. a wrongdoing not yet righted, vuk surmised. reajusting her head where he lay, she swiveled her ears toward reek, a silent offer to listen if he should choose to speak.

She spoke no words, but offered an ear to listen. He was reluctant to speak further as he did not wish to burden her with all of his dirty laundry, but his tightly wound emotions had begun to unfurl. Once again, he was falling apart. His composure wained until a defeated sob broke free from his tightly clasped lips. If he was truthful -- if Vuk knew the chaos Reek had created for himself -- would she think less of him? Would she even care? On the breath of a ragged and tired sigh (like a balloon losing the last bit of air), Reek finally spoke.

"I abandoned my family Vuk." His voice shook: his admittance of guilt, a hushed whisper. It had been the first time Reek had not tried to rationalize his actions. He had been unfaithful and as a consequence he had lost everything he had once held dear because a selfish whim. "My mate— my unborn children. All because I was too selfish."

"I couldn't protect them and they were wiped out." The floodgates opened and Reek's tears flowed freely. "I went the the maplewood and there's nothing left." Thuringwethil had made good on her promise to wipe his family away, he was sure. "I would give my life just to see them again," he mumbled, pulling his forelimbs into his chest so he could curl into a tight ball.

vuk knew very little of what had gone on in the grotto prior to the arrival of herself and her little family. she heard the guilt painted into each of reek's words, however, and moved closer to him. shame was something she knew well -- had she not run away from taggarik, she would not have fallen pregnant, and would have remained a part of the ridge. vuk could not help but blame herself for the disbandment of the pack; she had run away, and so had terich. a group such as their could not survive without collective strength.

she was surprised to hear that reek had a mate, and unborn children he claimed he had abandoned due to his own greed. the wording was vague -- she had always known him as a kind man and selfless in his nature -- surely there was more here. vuk's heart seized to know that they had been killed, from the sound of reek's despair -- the girl whined gently into his fur, arranging herself until she could preen the back of his neck. her own tears rose -- the loss of her three babes was still very fresh, and she felt keenly the knife-edge of reek's own.

She moved in closer -- the contact they shared was a comforting force. She preened his neck and Reek's mouth parted slightly as he closed his eyes tightly. A weak sound passed his lips as he tried to reign in his emotions. Terich was a lucky man to have Vuk as a mate, figured Reek. For a moment, he flushed green with envy. Though the grotto (and the wolves inhabiting it) belonged to Reek, he would have traded it all away to switch places with the subordinate. Terich didn't know how lucky he was to have a family such as this.

Like most good things, Reek wanted it for himself.

He remained silent and leaned closer into Vuk, craning his head around to rake his own teeth teeth though the fur of her neck -- starting with a patch of grey behind her ear.

:o

vuk felt reek relax beneath her touch, turn toward her. pleased that she could soothe the man in his time of need, the woman eagerly bent her head beneath his minstrations, contented by the pleasure his grooming engendered in her. terich did not often touch her so; he was a gentleman, bound by their arrangement and his own propriety. vuk had not know how much she wished for touch until reek gave it, and some emptiness within her was soothed.

quietly she submitted, lowering her own muzzle to preen whatever part of his dark fur was close. they could take solace in one another, vuk supposed, quite innocent of reek's inner want.

;p

His initial ministrations had been a gauge on wether to proceed or not. Vuk responded positively to Reek's touch, reciprocating herself as she worked through Reek's scruff in turn. His sadness, it slowly ebbed away, leaving Reek empty -- the hole it left in his chest was slowly filled with wanting, with envy, and selfish desire. If Terich could see him now, taking solace in such an intimate manner with his mate, Reek was sure his reaction would be in anger— but he was the alpha male; he could do whatever he wanted.

And so, Reek shimmied around on his stomach and worked his way downard on Vuk's flank, running his teeth though the fur of her side as he went and trailing his muzzle to places in which it should never go on a married woman.

he moved to face her, pressing the pleasant length of his warm body against her own, but his muzzle slipped from where he had been raking his teeth through her fur, and his lips caressed her side. the girl tensed, confusion entering her expression; she paused to watch him, and when he moved lower, vuk held her thighs together tightly.

this was altogether quite different than the doctoring reek had given her upon entry into larksong; it was overlaid with shades of the wolf and her interlude with him, and the light she had seen in terich's eyes from time to time.

"r-reek," vuk whispered, ears wilting along the sides of her slender skull; she nosed at his shoulder, wanting him to stop and curious what had come over the man all the same.

He continued along, his path set before him as he lightly trailed his teeth across the woman's spine. To feel the touch of another, it soothed his turbulent and damaged soul. Reek craved the intimacy and the feeling that he had lost when Tavi walked out the door. All in all, he just wanted to feel loved -- and this, this is how he would feel it again. In the arms of another.

But, she tensed. Reek slowed his ministrations and when she whipered his name, he ground to a halt. He could hear the apprehension in the quiver of her voice. Only now, in the wake of Vuk's rejection, did he realize the mistake he had made. His actions would break apart her family, and even though misery loves company, Reek did not wish to put either Vuk or Terich though the same pain he felt. He pulled away, and as he did, he thought of Tavi and the love he wanted to reclaim.

"I— I just— I'm so sorry," he stammered, casting his eyes downward in shame.

reek heeded, an apology upon his lips, and vuk gave a violent shake of her head. "n-no!" she exclaimed in a whisper, moving so that she could align her muzzle against his own. do not apologize, she wished to say. he had only wanted comfort, and perhaps his took a different form than her own.

comfort she could give, but not with her body; her own hungers had not yet been sorted. her first experience of intimacy had been pleasant only for a moment -- it had brought her grief and pain and loss, and vuk was unsure if she ever wished to revisit the moment with another.

she lay alongside reek and was silent.

Though Vuk was explicitly clear in that she felt no need for apologies, waves of guilt still washed over Reek in the wake of his actions, and he felt as if one was still due. He felt wrong -- dirty, to feel such a way about his mated subordinate, but most of all he was confused. Loneliness was a tricky thing and the feeling drove Reek to lengths in which he would not normally go. Her rejection did not change the fact of Reek's envy for Terich-Mir, but this was not the way to go about changing the situation.

A familiar, sinking medley of emotions settled in the pit of Reek's stomach. The vice around his heart tightened as he leaned into Vuk and sobbed.